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Our show on autism with Paul Collins and Jennifer Elder remains one of my favorites. And I’ve been enjoying a wonderfully written and moving memoir by Emily Colson about life with her son Max, now 19. Dancing with Max: A Mother and Son Who Broke Free has a prologue and an epilogue written by Charles (Chuck) Colson. Colson, of course, served in the Nixon White House and went to prison for the Watergate scandal, then went on to found Prison Ministries International. He is now something of an Evangelical Christian elder statesman, whom I met and interviewed several years ago together with two Evangelicals of different generations.

Chuck Colson and his daughter have created a searching and sometimes surprising exploration of what autism may teach us about what it means to be human, written from a devout and searching Christian perspective. It is an important addition to our literary and cultural encounter with autism, and I recommend it.

Reflections

The show on autism is very insightful and I hope to share it and these other resources with a young mother who is soing all she can for their son who has autism. Thanks for putting this all together so well.

many years ago my then teenaged daughter was extra bad in math. Our neighbor was extreamly intelligent,very high I-Q. He offered to tutor her. I went with her, sat in another room but I could hear every thing. I did not understand one thing he said. He was talking to her like he would talk to a collegue. I then realized a really good teacher is one that brings herself down to the child level. You cant expect a four year old to act twenty,but a twenty year old can act four. I just saw Mr. Colson and his daughter on the Mike Huckaby show. He said something to the effect he could not get through to Max, but when he got down on the floor he was on Max's level and then he could communicate. I wish every parent and every person who deals with children would remember "bring yourself down to childs level"